forbidden island game review
Okay, so the other day, I finally got around to playing Forbidden Island with the family. We’d had this game sitting on the shelf for, like, a year, and I’m kicking myself for not playing it sooner! It’s seriously a blast.
First off, I popped open the box. Inside, you’ve got these cool island tiles, little treasure figurines, some cards, and these adventurer pawns. I’m a sucker for good game components, and these were pretty neat.
Setting Up Was a Breeze
We spent maybe 5 minutes setting everything up. Basically, you shuffle the island tiles and lay them out in a diamond shape. This creates the “Forbidden Island.” Then, you deal out some Flood cards that show which tiles start sinking. We flipped those tiles to their blue “flooded” side.
- Shuffle the island tiles and create the diamond.
- Deal and flip Flood cards.
- Give Player pawn and matching cards.
Each of us picked an adventurer – I went with the Pilot because, well, flying is cool. Each character has a special ability, which adds a nice little twist to the game.
Gameplay – Sink or Swim!
The whole point is to grab four treasures and then get everyone to the helicopter pad (Fools’ Landing tile) before the island sinks completely. Sounds easy, right? Wrong! We took turns, doing up to three actions each: moving, shoring up sinking tiles, giving Treasure cards to each other, or capturing a treasure.
After each turn, you draw Treasure cards (you need four of the same kind to get a treasure) and more Flood cards. Those Flood cards are the real killer – they tell you which tiles sink next. And if a tile sinks and there’s no “flooded” side, it’s gone for good! We started getting really strategic, trying to shore up the important tiles before they disappeared.
My son, who played the Engineer (he can shore up two tiles for one action), was a lifesaver. He kept Fools’ Landing afloat, while my daughter, the Diver, was swimming all over the place, getting to tiles that were cut off from the main island.
The Thrilling (and Slightly Panicked) Finish
Things got pretty tense towards the end. We had collected three treasures, but the water levels were rising like crazy. We were scrambling to get the last treasure and make it to Fools’ Landing. There were a couple of times when we thought we were doomed, but we managed to pull it off! We all made it to the helicopter pad just as the last few tiles were sinking. The win was so rewarding!
So all I can say it was a great experience playing for the first time and I can wait to play again.
